Exercise and physical activity, being an important part of life, is engaged in by countless individuals every day. In modern athletics, it is commonplace to utilize one or more machines to engage in a workout routine. For instance, many individuals engage treadmills, elliptical machines, rowing machines, stair-climbing machines and stationary bikes to engage and improve their cardiovascular health. For individuals engaging their other muscular systems, individuals engage numerous weight lifting systems, typically comprised of systems of pulleys connected to variable weight settings.
The systems currently available in the art, particularly the cardiovascular machines, are powered by direct connection to a power supply (e.g., battery supply, AC power source) and are configured with a human machine interface (HMI) that provides basic data regarding the activity engaged in (e.g., calories burned, distance, speed, time) and potentially some information regarding the user (e.g., weight, heart rate, age).
While some embodiments of these machines require a reasonable amount of power to be provided to them in order to operate (e.g., treadmills), many of these machines require a relatively low amount of power to operate (e.g., stationary bikes, rowing machines) and in some instance, no power at all.
In machines that require little to no power, the user of the machine is typically pit against resistance created by an external force (e.g., electromagnetic resistance, cable resistance, friction resistance, gravity). In almost all cases, the user is expending energy to consistently work against these forces. For instance, a weightlifter utilizing a pulley operated system works against gravity to vertically lift weighted plates that are otherwise at rest.
One problem encountered with these machines is that energy expended is not harnessed. While these machines are frequently operated, their systems are configured only to allow the expended energy to be converted into a non-harnessed form. For instance, continuing from the example above, once the weightlifter has lifted the weighted plates off the ground utilizing the pulley operated system, the weightlifter simply lowers the weights back down to the ground with no harnessing of the expended energies.
Another limitation of exercise machines available in the art are that they typically lack any motivational capabilities that would inspire an individual to push their workout routine. This is apparent as most professional and home gyms have their exercise machines aligned with TVs or other simplistic entertainment device (e.g., radio, mp3 player).
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method for generating power via the use and operation of a fitness machine. Further there is a need in the art for a system and method for motivating individuals to workout. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.